


Legacies and Futures

by KaidaShade



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Drabble, Family, Game: Destiny 2: Beyond Light DLC Spoilers, Gen, Lament Spoilers, Light robot gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28657239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaidaShade/pseuds/KaidaShade
Summary: Elsie shares a quiet moment with someone she thought she had lost forever.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 41





	Legacies and Futures

**Author's Note:**

> The Lament quest and the Legacy's Lament lorebook broke me, okay? 
> 
> LET THESE TWO BE A FAMILY. I really hope we actually get to see them interact in canon more, but for now, I'm left to write it myself.

He was smaller than she remembered. Elsie knew the thought was ridiculous, but in her memory Clovis-43 had been a juggernaut and here, in this little tucked away workshop that she had crept into, he seemed so frail. But then, he wasn’t Clovis now, was he? Banshee suited him much better. 

This place, too, seemed to fit him better, like a well-worn boot instead of the stark, white dress shoe of the Braytech facility on Europa. That had been Clovis’ place, but this… this belonged to someone else, to the Exo he had become. He matched, with his chipped paint and the frayed edges of his scarf, his comfortable clothes, and he was so quiet and focused that he almost seemed to blend in with the battered couch shoved in the corner and the haphazard mess of parts scattered around. The only thing out of place was the corpse sprawled across the workbench.

Perhaps ‘corpse’ was the wrong word, but the stark white and blue plating and blank, dark eyes belonged unmistakably to a dead Exo. She tried not to look at it too hard, finding them unsettling even out on Europa and especially so here, especially with its chest opened up like an autopsy while Banshee tinkered wrist-deep within. 

He paused, lamplike blue eyes flicking her way, and for a moment she had a flash of memory, of being much smaller and hiding in her grandfather’s lab to watch him work. But there was none of the coldness she remembered, none of the disdain, in Banshee’s eyes. He just looked tired.

“You gonna lurk there all day, Hunter? If you’re here for the bow, I already gave it to someone else. Pretty sure that was a while back.”

She stood from her hiding spot, uncloaking since she’d already been caught, and she watched as he gave her a quick, curious once-over without any sign of concern for his own safety. Not the way some of the Guardians looked at her, fortunately; she didn’t think she could stand that, knowing who he was. She thought maybe she saw a flicker of recognition, but it might have just been wishful thinking. “How long have you known I was there?”   
“Not sure. Mighta noticed something off ‘n’ forgot about it, a couple times. But a while.”   
“And you didn’t say anything?”   
“Wanted to see what you were doing. You new around here? Lost?”

“Not as such. I was looking for you, actually. My name’s Elisabeth. Elisabeth Bray.”

There was a flicker in the back of his throat, and he straightened from his workbench and wiped… something, from his hands. Not blood, definitely not, but the scene seemed grisly nonetheless. His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked down, frowning, then met her gaze as if he might find some kind of answer there. “You... prefer Elsie, though? Right?”

She felt her vents catch, tried her best not to show it on her face. “You remember that?”   
He broke eye contact, running a hand over the back of his neck and glancing at the dead Exo. “Hm. Not the way you’re thinking. A Guardian brought me some memory logs from these guys. There was some talk about you. Talk about me, too. I assume you know…?”

She nodded. If he’d looked tired, he  _ sounded  _ exhausted. Elsie supposed it must be hard, learning something like that about yourself when you’d had centuries of blissful ignorance. The silence hung for a moment before he turned back to his work. “Mind if I ask why you’re here? If you’re after revenge or something, I’d understand that.”   
“What do you think I would want revenge for?” She tipped her head at him, daring to come a little closer and get a better view of what he was working on.   
He paused, sighing to himself. “Can think of a few things. I’ve seen some of the experiment files folks have brought back from Europa. Y’know, it’s funny. I forget a lotta things. Wish I could forget those.”   
  
“I don’t want revenge.” Elsie shook her head, “Not on you, anyway. My grandfather hurt a lot of people and did a lot of terrible things, and I despise him. But…” She paused, waited until he actually looked at her before continuing, “he is dead. And he would have hated you.”

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment.” 

“You should.”

He made a noise that was barely a laugh, more of a huff of air from his vents, and turned back to the dead Exo. “Someone’s still gotta clean up his mess though.”   
Elsie snorted. “Usually that’s me.”   
“Well, now you get some help. I’m no Guardian. I don’t have the powers you have. But I  _ can _ do this.” He reached for a tiny screwdriver, tweaking something within the Exo’s chest.   
“I did wonder what this was about…” she admitted, trying to peer around him. The Exo seemed to be in reasonably good condition physically- aside from being dead- and it seemed… familiar somehow.    
“I hear there’s dozens of ‘em on Europa. This guy…” he picked up the Exo’s arm and read something scrawled in incomprehensible handwriting in marker on the plating, “Hector-6. His memory was intact enough to download some stuff. He’s not the only one. I’m hoping… all these people died because of m- because of Clovis Bray. I’m hoping maybe there’s enough of ‘em left to give ‘em a second chance. The world’s… different, now. Dunno if I’d say better, don’t remember enough. But the City beats Europa and they deserve to live.”

There was something achingly familiar about the quiet determination in his rough voice. It had been centuries- or more, Elsie had lived through so many timelines and so many lives that she had lost track of time entirely- but for a moment she was standing on Europa, side by side before a deactivated AI with the man who could have been her grandfather, had circumstances been different. She hadn’t expected to see him again, then. She caught herself wondering what might have been different if she’d asked him to stay, and realised that she’d been quiet for too long and he was looking at her again, a troubled frown framing his eyes. “You alright?”   
“I’m sorry. I was… thinking. Remembering, I suppose. You’re right, the world is very different. And if anyone can bring them into it, I would imagine it would be you. If you want help…”   
“I get the feeling you’ve got a lot of other stuff to handle, right now.” Banshee remarked, tilting his head thoughtfully when she squinted at him, “Guardians gossip. I’ve been hearing a lot about what you’re doing on Europa. Probably about ten times what I remember.”   
“You’re… not entirely wrong.” She admitted, her shoulders sagging slightly as she was reminded of the weight that rested on them.   
  
It was almost imperceptible, and she doubted anyone other than an Exo would have noticed, but there was a softening around Banshee’s eyes and he stepped away from the workbench. A hand fell on her shoulder, the fingers gently curling against her poncho for a moment. He was the same height as her, she realised dimly. “You’re brave. Smart. I might not know much but I do know you’re more than  _ he _ ever gave you credit for. But the weight you carry… it’s a lot. If you ever need to put it down for a while then… well, there’s a place here you can rest your head a while. You know where to find me.”

It caught her off-guard. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard such warmth from anyone, except perhaps the occasional Ghost, and for a moment she thought something in her might break. She wanted to. To let it all go, let someone else pick up the pieces of her. If only she could bring herself to. She didn’t dare speak, just nodded, and he seemed to understand because he pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight.

Clovis had never hugged her like that.

But the moment passed, and she had to pull away from him. For all her skills, there was never enough time. “I should go. But… you’ll keep me updated?”   
“If I remember. No. I  _ will _ .” He grabbed a notepad, scribbled something and tacked it to the wall, right at his eye level, and Elsie couldn’t help but smile in her own way, “and… yeah, feel free to come back. If you need any guns fixing, I’m pretty good at that too.” 

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

It took all her willpower to drag herself away, back down the stairs into the vent shaft she’d come through, but something in her chest felt a little lighter when she heard his rough goodbye follow behind her.


End file.
